Write One Page Per Day – 112/365 – April 22, 2018

Jeff felt a stab of panic as the laughter echoed through the room again. He looked around, trying in vain to see through the hanging lights. The amulet hanging from his neck flared with heat as the lights on the other side of the room began popping like balloons, plunging the far end of the room into darkness.

The laughter echoed again, only now it seemed more sinister. Jeff watched as the wave of darkness and sprinkling of broken glass moved toward him like a terrible wave. He moved to try to stay ahead of it, ending in the center of the room with a single hanging light above him.

“A smart one then…” the voice said.

Jeff’s heart was racing as a cold breeze moved through the windowless room. A shiver went up his spine as he thought he saw movement in the darkness outside the circle.

“Who are you? Everyone tries to go out the door when I bring them into the darkness,” the voice said.

“Why should I tell you? Who are you? Why am I here?” Jeff called out into the darkness.

“I am the Darkness!” The voice boomed around him, “The Unknown! The Stranger! I am the voice in the back of your head!”

“Why am I here?” Jeff asked, spinning in a circle.

“You were chosen. You bear the amulet!” The voice replied.

Jeff felt a sudden pressure in his head as the amulet heated against his chest. Images flashed through his mind of hundreds of people, all wearing the amulet. Each of them looked afraid. Each image, he knew, was of their final moment before the darkness closed in on them.

“So you kill people who have this?” He asked lifting the amulet up.

“They aren’t dead. You hold one in your hands as you speak,” the voice replied as the statue warmed and an image of a woman he recognized went through his mind.

“Cindy!” Jeff cried, nearly dropping the statue.

“You know this one?” the voice asked.

“She- She’s important to me,” Jeff said pulling the statue close, “I’m confused, how can this be her? How is this possible? What is happening? What are these statues supposed to be?”